Percentage feeder



B. NEAL ET AL vPERCE1-1TAGF FEEDER Dec. 11,1928. 1,694,484

Filed Maron 26, '192s 2 snee1ssheet 1V Dec. 11,' l928.. 1,694,484

B; NEA; ET AL PERCENTAGE FEEDER Patented Dec. ll, 1925.8.

remate BURTON NEAL, or ST. Louis, AND Geenen H. HEBEERAND, GFK-trincee,-Mrs'sonai;

rPERGEN'lAGr FEEDER. i

Application filed March 26, 1926. Serial N0. 97,494.

This invention relates to power-driven feeding machines of the typegenerally known as percentage feeders, which are designed to uniformlydeliver regulated quantities of the product being fed.

In prior devices of this character, the capacity of the feeders isusually variedby varying the speed of rotation of the feed wheel orother feedingmember, which is usually actuated intermittently. Suchdevices are more or less lacking in uniformity of operationl and theyare, moreover, not susceptible of very accurate or close adjustment forvarying the quantity of the product fed.

Machines 0f this character find a very wide application in flour mills,for use in blending grains, flour, and the like, andit is very desirablethat a machine of this character should be capable of nice adjustmentand should operate with a high degree of uniformity.

lt is the general object of our invention, therefore, to provide apercentage feeder in Which novel means are provided for varying thequantitative feed of the device, such means permitting of accurate andclose adj ustment, and the machine, as a whole, operating uniformlyunder any given adjustment.

A further object of the invention relates to the provision of means foradjusting the feed of the device, which is associated with a scale,whereby the operator can set the ma* chine accurately to provide a givenquantitative feed of material, and by observing the scale, will know atall times'the amount of material beingl fed throughthe machine. Ourinvention is characterized by the fact that the variation in the feed iseffected by varying the. capacity of the feeding member in place ofmerely varying its rate of movement.

The invention is illustrated in theA accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a view in front elevation'o'f a feeding machine constructedaccording to our invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional view oni the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is asectional view of Figure 2; f

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2, but showing a different positionof the segmental members of the feed drum; and

Figure 5 is-a broken sectional view showing the manner of pivoting` thesegmental members in the end walls of the feed drum.

Referring now to the drawings, the nuron the lineB-S meral 1 indicates acasing having an inlet opening 2 at itstop throughwhich material flowsto the feeder, andan outlet opening 3 at its vbottom,through which thematerial is discharged. j side walls et and 4P. Thenumeral 5 indicates,afeed drum which comprises circular heads Projecting centrally from thehead G and fixedly 'secured at .its inner endto sa-id lhead is a Thecasing .1 is provided with l sleeve bearing 10, which is rotatablymounted in the wall 4t. Secured on the outer end of this sleeve is apulley 11 which is rotated by a belt12l driven from anysuitable source.Aof

power (not shown). Projecting centrally from the head 7 is a sleevebearing 13 which is also iXedly secured to the head and is rotatablymounted inthe side wall li. Rotatably mounted inthe sleeve bearings and13 is av shaft 1st, which is adapted t0 be turned manually through agreater or less arc to'move the leaves 8 of the feed drum. To effectsuch movement, rwe secure centrally lof the shaft 14 a disk 15, andpivotally secure to saiddisk near the periphery thereof, thefinner endslof a series of arms 16, corresponding in number to the number of theyleaves 8, which, in the present instance, is six. The outery ends ofthese arms are pivotally connected at 17, Ie-

spe-ctively, to the outer' or free ends of the leaves 8. By aninspection of Figure. 2, it will be seen that when the leaves8 are intheir outermost position, so as to form a cylindrical shell, the arms 16are positioned, respectively,.to one side of diametrical lines oftheshell, so that when the disk 15 is turnedl in an anti-clockwisedirection, the outer or free vendsfof the leaves 8 will be dra-wndownward by the arms 16 of agreater' or less extent to a positioncorresponding to that shown in Figure l. This movement of the leaves isfory varying .the (juantita-tivel feed of the drum, as hereinafterexplained. The shaft 14 is adapted to be manually turned to move thedisk 15 in theinanner just described, and for turning the shaft 14 anddiskl, and for indicating the extent' toxwhich the feed ofthe drum iscorresjaondingly varied, we provide the followingnrechanism- :A C

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Fixedly secured on the end of the sleeve bearing 13 opposite'to thathaving the pulley 11 is a disk 18, provided on its periphery with twopins 19 located, respectively, at diametrically opposite points of theperiphery. The

numeral 2O indicates a hollow circular head, the inner end of whichencircles and rests upon the periphery of the disk 8, and the wall ofwhich is provided at diametrically opposite points with straight slots21 (Figure 3), which extend parallel with' the shaft 14 and in whichengage the pins 19. Fixedly secured on the shaft 14 beyond the disk 18is a similar disk 22 which is provided on its periphery wit-h two pins23 located, respectively, at diametrically opposite points on theperiphery of the disk and which engage in diagonally disposed slots 24provided in the wall of the head20. This pin and slot en gagement, as toone side of the head, is shown in F igure'l. The outer end of theshaft14 is screwthreaded, as indicated at 25, (Figure 3), and mounted on thisend to have screwthreaded engagement therewith is a hand wheel 26, whichis rotatably mounted in the end ,wall of the head 20. From theconstruction described, it will be lseen that if the i` hand wheel 16 isturned in a clockwise direction, the head 2O will be moved inward, the

Vslots 21 passing over the pins 19.v As this movement occurs, the wallsof the inclined slots 24 engage the pins 23, which will cause the shaft25 to turn, and this movement of the shaft will turn the disk 15 tocause the arms 16 to force the leaves 8 outward. If the hand wheel 26 beturned in an anti-clockwise direction, the parts will be moved in theopposite directionto that described to cause the leaves 8 to be movedinward. The head 20 is, of course, constantly rotated, and in order thatthe operator may regulate to a nicety rthe variation in the feed of thedrum 5, we

. provide on said head a circular projection 27,

which operates in the manner of a pointer "and rotates in proximity to agraduated scale plate 28, secured above the head on the wall 4%, asshown by Figure 3. It will be apparent that by turning the head to anyone of the graduations on the scale plate, the opera- `tor can vary thef-eed to a greater or less eX- 29 indicate, respectively, fixed curvedparti-V tions which extend between the heads 6 and 7 from the peripheryof said heads to near the periphery of the disk 15, and are positionedso that the free ends of the leaves 8 will have sliding contacttherewith in their movement.

kThe inner end of each of the partitions 29 is provided with a stopwhich limits the inward movement of the corresponding leaf 8 associatedtherewith.

From an inspection of Figure 4, it will be seen that as the leaves 8 aremoved inward,

peripheral pockets 31 will be provided on the surface of the drum aboveeach leaf, the bottom of which is formed by the leaf and the end wall ofwhich is formed by the portion of the partition 29 extending above saidleaf. rlhe heads 6 and 7 rotate in close proximity to the front and rearwalls of the casing 1, as

.shown by Figure 4, so that only the amount of the material, such asiiour, for example, which can be contained by each pocket. 31 insuccession, can be carried past the point X of the front wall of thecasing, said point indicating the point of closest approach of the heads6 and 7 to the said front wall. It will thus be seen that for any givenadjustmentof the leaves 8 and with the drum 5 rotating` at a uniformspeed, substantially a uniform quantitative feed of material willresult, and that the quantitative amount of this feed may be lessened orincreased to a predetermined degree by simply lessening or increasingthe size of the pockets 81 by turning the head 20, as previouslydescribed.

i We wish it understood that the drawing illustrates a preferredembodiment of the invention, but that the broad idea thereof, as definedin the claims, is not limited to the special construction of apparatusshown.

7e claim:

1. A feeding machine of the class described, comprising a casingaffording an inlet and an outlet, a feed drum rotatably mounted in saidcasing between said inlet and outlet, a plurality of segmental memberspivotally mounted at one end, a curved radially-disposed partitionlocated in proximity to the free end of each of said segmental members,a shaft rotatably mounted in said casing, a disk on said shaft, and aseries of arms each of which is pivotally connected at one end to theperipheral portion of said disk, and at theother, to the free end of asegmental member, means for rotating said feed drum, and means formanually turning said shaft in either direction adjustable distances,whereby to simultaneously move the free ends of allk of said segmentalmembers toward or from the periphery of said feed drum to vary the sizeof peripheral pockets formed on said feed drum by said segmental membersand partitions.

2. `Afeeding machine of the class described, comprising a casingaffording an inlet and an outlet for material, a feed drum rotatablymounted in the casing between said inlet and outlet and provided with aseries of peripheral pockets having movable bottoms, a. shaft rotatablymounted in said casing and operatively connected with all of saidbottoms,

whereby, upon turning said shaft in'one direction or the other, saidbottoms will be moved to vary the capacity of said pockets,

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an indicating member mounted to rotate with said drum and longitudinallyadjustable on said shaft and operatively connected therewith to turn thesame, and a scale associated with said indicating member for indicatingthe extent of adjustment of the capacity of said pockets effected bymanually operating said indicating member to turn said shaft.

3. A feeding machine of the class described, comprising a casingaffording an inlet and an outlet for material, a. feed drum having aseries of peripheral pockets provided with movable bottoms, hollowtrunnions rotatably supporting said feed drum in said casing, means forrotating said feed drum, a shaft operatively connected with said bottomsto adjust the positions of the same when turned and having as-crewthreaded end, and means for turning said shaft and for indicatingthe extent of such adjustment comprising a disk IiXedly secured on oneof said trunnions: and provided with two projections located,respectively, at opposite sides of its periphery, a hollow indicatingmember mounted on said disk and having longitudinal slots receiving saidprojections, a second disk mounted on said shaft and provided with twoprojections extending, respectively, from dia-metrically opposite sidesof its periphery, said indicating member having inclined slots engagingsaid latter projections, a hand wheel rotatably mounted in said head andhaving screwthreaded engagement with said shaft, and a scale associatedwith said indicating member. rotatably mounted 1n said hollow trunnions,

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

BURTON NEAL. GEORGE n. HEBEBRAND.

